So this is a map I've been trying to do (in GIMP) and I'm having a few problems.
first of which is the mountain and the desert which are ending up with a sort of dull rosey color that I don't particularly like, any suggestions on making them more natural? Second it is a mandalorian base so I'm in need of some guidance on how to go about doing the roofing and making realistic buildings this close up. I'm still a beginner :( (in case you haven't already noticed :P)

18741

Next keeping with my Star Wars themed I tried to do an orbital view of Coruscant using this (http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=7700). For those uninformed: Coruscant is a planet covered entirely in city. I tried to get a purple haze over it and I think the planet is fine, but I was wondering if anyone else does moons, since Coruscant has 4 of them, how can I make them all individual and not like I copy pasted them like in the picture?

18742

any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

Redrobes

11-19-2009, 07:37 AM

For moons I would use some NASA pics. They are all in public domain. A good site to browse for them is here:
http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/subject.html

For the planet basically what you need is a sphere with texture mapping. Celestia is good for this or you can use a 3D app like blender or something lighter and simpler. All of them can do spheres no problem. There is sphere mapping as a texture style so you just sphere map a texture onto a sphere, add a few light sources, position camera and render.

icosahedron

11-19-2009, 09:24 AM

Hi ISGC, glad you liked my planet tutorial.

You can use the same techniques to make all sorts of different worlds, including different moons. When you start your map and do the basic Filters->Render->Clouds, you'll see a 'seed number'. try changing that. It'll give you different continent layouts and different cloud formations.

Have another go at the shadows and highlights, too, they'll make your bodies a little less flat, and will show different positioning of the moons relative to the light source.

I'm only a beginner myself, but throw out a specific problem and we can maybe wrestle with it together. :)

Can't help with your mountains, though, I'm still learning those myself, but if you don't like the colour of your land, select the area and use Colours->Colourise.

ISGC

11-19-2009, 03:12 PM

For moons I would use some NASA pics. They are all in public domain. A good site to browse for them is here:
http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/subject.html

For the planet basically what you need is a sphere with texture mapping. Celestia is good for this or you can use a 3D app like blender or something lighter and simpler. All of them can do spheres no problem. There is sphere mapping as a texture style so you just sphere map a texture onto a sphere, add a few light sources, position camera and render.

alright thanks, I think I'll stick with GIMP for now, but the pictures are great, I can get some good textures from those.

Hi ISGC, glad you liked my planet tutorial.

You can use the same techniques to make all sorts of different worlds, including different moons. When you start your map and do the basic Filters->Render->Clouds, you'll see a 'seed number'. try changing that. It'll give you different continent layouts and different cloud formations.

Have another go at the shadows and highlights, too, they'll make your bodies a little less flat, and will show different positioning of the moons relative to the light source.

I'm only a beginner myself, but throw out a specific problem and we can maybe wrestle with it together. :)

Can't help with your mountains, though, I'm still learning those myself, but if you don't like the colour of your land, select the area and use Colours->Colourise.

Thanks, yea, I think I'll just go through a different process and texture for each moon to make the individuals. Also I should probably specify that the color is fine, it's a good desert color, but the saturation of the color making it dull. Of course depending on how the buildings end up being it may be good that the mountains are dull.

Anyway so no one has any at least partially methodical way to apply a roof to a building? specifically a military base?

Redrobes

11-19-2009, 03:39 PM

Anyway so no one has any at least partially methodical way to apply a roof to a building? specifically a military base?

We have this thatching script thing which we have used for tiled roofs. Can you clip out some of the buildings from this:

http://www.cartographersguild.com/showpost.php?p=70036&postcount=12

You can see the whole thread for more info if you like.

ISGC

11-19-2009, 05:46 PM

We have this thatching script thing which we have used for tiled roofs. Can you clip out some of the buildings from this:

http://www.cartographersguild.com/showpost.php?p=70036&postcount=12

You can see the whole thread for more info if you like.

oh thank you, that's really all I wanted to ask.

ISGC

11-19-2009, 07:29 PM

so how does it look now?
thanks for the roof advice, I still don't like how rough the edges are though :(